Go Bold or Go Home

My friends and I woke up at the crack of dawn on Monday morning, donned our short shorts and snazzy socks and caught the shuttle up to Boulder.  Us and about 59,000 other racers, give or take a few.

Don't I have the cutest friends ever? I certainly don't look that good at 6:00 am!

We arrived in plenty of time to see some crazy runners (my favorite was the guy dressed up as a gorilla), pick up our packets, bibs and timing chips and drop off our stuff in the mobile lockers.  Oh--and wait in line for the bathrooms at Walgreens because Kayla has a mortal fear of porta-potties.  (She told us a story about a man that was found hiding in one at the Bolder Boulder last year--and by "in one", I mean in one.  Um, yuck.)

Then, before we knew it, we had found our wave and it was time for us to start!  The trumpet sounded, the gun went off and we started running.  Or at least, trying to.  Shame on us for being procrastinators--we were somehow stuck in a wave that was supposed to be joggers, but from what I could tell, all of the people around us had paid an hefty entrance fee to take a leisurely walk through Boulder.

It was annoying, to put it mildly.  We actually ran a tenth of a mile extra just because we were weaving and zig zagging around people the entire time.

It was still fun--definitely an experience to remember!  There is a reason the Bolder Boulder was named by Runners World as the Best 10K in the nation.  I wish I could have brought my camera on the actual race--to capture the troops of belly dancers cheering us on, or the homemade slip and slides people had set up on the side of the road.  I loved the marshmallow stand (but didn't partake) and the many strapping teenage boys that were offering "free hugs" (didn't partake of those, either.)  And alas, I also decided against the many keg parties along the race course, but I did enjoy the many live bands, people squirting hoses on me and the fact that we were cheered on by complete strangers every step of the way.  (And they all loved our socks.)

The best part was the end--running into a huge stadium full of cheering people and booming music and crossing the finish line.  You felt like you were in the Olympics or something--along with the 59,000 other runners.  :)

Afterwards, as Kayla and I were stretching we both realized that it was the first road race either of us had ever run!  A 10K in 68 minutes--not too shabby for my first time, right?  (Or so I thought until I heard that one of Isaac's friends ran it in 48 minutes!!!)

I loved the fact that so many families were running it together! I couldn't believe how many little kids I saw out there.   I totally want to run it with my kids in the future!  It would be a blast!

Today my calves are so tight I can barely walk.  I have done Yoga, stretching, walking--I still don't know what is up with that, but oh well.  At least my knees are fine!